The Best Goodbye Ever
by winter s. jameson
Summary: First in the Life Goes On series. It's almost the end of the summer before junior high for Phineas and Ferb and their friends, and they need to help someone say goodbye to a loved one. And of course there's still summer itself to see off... (warnings for talk of death and death rituals - nothing too graphic)


_Why, hello, everyone, and welcome to the first in my Life Goes On series. This series will be my take on the evolving future of the characters from the show (as if you couldn't guess that). I hope I'll be able to add to the series on a regular basis, but I can't promise (the regular basis part, not the adding part - I promise to add more stories). My muse is such a fickle, flighty one. And I still have three epic-sized (or close to it) stories sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to finish them so I can publish them. Rest assured, there _will _be more of this series, though. _That_ I can promise._

_As for this story in particular, I really enjoyed writing it. I had a lot of characters to juggle, but I think it worked out pretty well. I'm a bit biased, however. :-)So please, read for yourself and enjoy. Be sure to let me know what you think!_

* * *

Phineas and his friends laughed as they all raced to be the first to grab the beach ball that had been fired from their Big Idea of the day. A brief friendly tussle saw Isabella triumphant, the black-haired girl dancing around with the ball held high. Buford started grumbling about how he hadn't really been trying his hardest while Phineas offered his congratulations, Ferb adding an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Just before Isabella began to respond to Buford's attitude, the backyard fence gate opened and Candace and Jeremy walked through. The teenage girl's eyebrows rose at the sight of the beach ball, but although she briefly glanced around the yard she said nothing. Jeremy merely gave the younger kids a small somewhat tired smile.

"Hey, Candace. Hey, Jeremy," Phineas greeted them brightly. "I thought you guys were going to spend all day watching movies."

"We watched one," Candace said while Jeremy sighed sadly. "Then right after we started the second one Suzy started crying, loudly. Things got complicated after that."

"What happened?" Isabella asked, her tone expressing the concern all five of the younger kids were showing.

Candace hesitated and looked at Jeremy. "Suzy's pet guinea pig Clarence died," the young man answered. "She's had him for quite a while and was really attached to him. She's so torn up." He shook his head slowly.

Candace nodded. "She didn't even want Jeremy to comfort her."

Phineas shared a surprised look with his friends. "That's bad," he agreed.

"My parents tried to comfort her, of course," Jeremy continued. "It was rough going. Suzy really lost it when my dad mentioned saying some nice words when we buried Clarence in the backyard. She said Clarence was too special to just cover with dirt and say a few words. Then she started crying even harder and ran back to her room."

"The whole house shook when she slammed the door," Candace added.

Isabella's look turned sympathetic. "Oh, that's so sad. She must be really hurting."

Baljeet frowned slightly. "But what are you going to do with Clarence?" he asked. "You will have to do something with him and very soon."

"I know." Jeremy nodded in sad agreement. "The problem is Clarence is in her room and Suzy's locked the door. She's refusing to come out until we can say goodbye to him the way he deserves. My parents don't know what to do."

"Well, you could always break down the door," Buford offered with a shrug. "It can't be that hard."

"I'm pretty sure they want to do something a little less destructive," Isabella said slowly as everyone just stared at the husky boy.

"Not to mention something a bit more sensitive to Suzy's feelings," Ferb added.

Buford shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

Phineas narrowed his eyes for a moment before widening them as an idea dawned. "So Suzy wants a special way to say goodbye, right?"

Jeremy nodded as he watched the younger boy carefully. There had been something in Phineas' tone that spoke of Big Ideas. "It's the only way she'll open her door."

"What are you thinking?" Candace asked suspiciously.

"I'm thinking we need to do a little research," Phineas replied. "Give us a half hour, tops, and we should have a solution for you," he said to Jeremy, then turned his attention to his friends. "Come on inside, gang. I know what else we're going to do today."

The teenage couple watched as the five younger kids trooped into the house then gave each other a look. "I wonder what kind of research they're going to do," Jeremy said.

Candace frowned. "I'm sure it's going to lead to something bustable," she grumbled, then sighed in resignation. "But I guess if it helps Suzy…"

Jeremy chuckled as she trailed off. "It's good to see how much you care."

Candace would have said something wry and witty at that point, but Jeremy leaned over and kissed her, driving those thoughts straight out of her head. When they separated, they decided to go inside and wait to see what Phineas and the others would come up with. It was sure to be… interesting at the very least.

* * *

"You're just saying that to make me let you in!" Suzy Johnson's voice called from the other side of her still-locked bedroom door.

"Come on, Suzy, you know I wouldn't try to trick you into anything," Jeremy said with a touch of exasperation, letting himself fall back against the wall opposite the door. He glanced down the hall and gave his girlfriend and her brothers an apologetic look.

Phineas gave him a reassuring smile and stepped forward. "Really, Suzy, we have some great ideas that can help you say goodbye to Clarence in a big way, the way he deserves," he said before Suzy could refute Jeremy for the third time in the last five minutes.

There was a brief moment of silence. "You're really going to do that for me?" the little girl asked suspiciously.

"Well, sure," Phineas said. "I think it's great that you want your goodbye to Clarence to be so special. You obviously really loved him, and I can't wait to help you."

"Oh, all right." The door opened a crack and Suzy slipped out. She quickly slammed it shut behind her and used a key hanging from a chain around her neck to lock it, then dropped the chain and key underneath her shirt. "But if this isn't very good I'm going back in there."

"Fair enough," Phineas said with a small smile. "Let's go sit down in the living room and you can pick from the different ceremonies we thought might work."

Once they had done so, Suzy between Phineas and Ferb on the couch and Candace and Jeremy in the matching loveseat, Phineas gestured to Ferb. "Now here's one of the funeral ceremonies practiced by the Iroquois," he began as his brother held up a poster board covered in pictures and diagrams. "The body is buried then later dug back up. Relatives would bring the preserved bones to a central burial site after a mourning feast, accompanied by presents for the spirits. I was thinking that we could…"

Suzy interrupted him, her expression one of disgust. "I don't want to dig Clarence back up once we bury him. That's gross."

Phineas shrugged. "This is your ceremony, Suzy," he said calmly while Ferb put that board face down on the coffee table. "We have more to choose from."

"Man, I hope so," Candace leaned over and whispered to Jeremy. He gave her a smile of agreement.

"Okay, so our second choice is one practiced by the Maoris of New Zealand," Phineas continued. "It's kind of elaborate, but we can make it work. The body is placed in a hut. It's sat up and dressed in embellished clothes for people to come see it, kind of like a wake or a public viewing. The mourners wear wreaths of green leaves. It's all pretty emotional; relatives sometimes cut themselves with knives."

"Hold on," Jeremy interrupted as his sister stared at Phineas with wide eyes. "Nobody here is cutting themselves to show how sad they are."

Candace was hugging herself loosely and giving her brothers a weirded-out look of her own. "You actually thought this would _work_? For _Suzy_?" she asked incredulously.

Both Phineas and Ferb looked at her innocently. "The sources we got our information from said sometimes, Candace," Phineas said. "We certainly weren't going to make it a mandatory part of the ceremony."

Candace blew out a loud breath as she rolled her eyes and let her hands fall back into her lap. "I just can't believe you were thinking of it at all."

"We weren't, really," Ferb said. "But in the interest of full disclosure we thought it was necessary to mention it did occur on occasion in the original culture."

"So does anything else happen in this ceremony?" Jeremy asked, hoping to get things back on track.

Phineas nodded, his smile returning. "Oh, sure. The ritual ends with chanting praises and a big feast where relatives of the deceased get gifts. The hut is torn down and burnt to ashes, although I'm not entirely clear when that happens. I'm thinking after the chants and before the feast. Then, after a few years pass, the bones are cleaned, covered in red earth, and placed in a special cave."

Suzy scrunched up her nose. "We'd have to find his bones and all that stuff. It wouldn't really be over until then, would it?"

"I guess not. But it would be pretty special." Phineas gave her an encouraging look.

"Well, yeah. And I would get presents. But years is way too long."

"Not to mention I don't think we have a special cave to put the bones in," Jeremy murmured to Candace, amused at Suzy's excitement over the possibility of presents.

Candace looked at her brothers. "You didn't come up with any more gross rituals, did you? Digging up bodies isn't the most pleasant way to do things."

Phineas returned the look with a smile. "Actually, the Parsees of Bombay used to leave their dead on top of towers to be eaten by vultures, and in the Solomon Islands the dead were left out for sharks to eat. But we didn't think Suzy would like either of those rituals."

"Not to mention the distinct lack of wild vultures and sharks in Danville," Ferb added.

"What about the shark of Danville Harbor?" Suzy asked.

"It was driven away, remember?" Jeremy reminded her. "The shark at the Harbor Days Festival is just a recreation for the reenactment. It's not real."

Candace looked away, pouting slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It was still totally bustable, though," she grumbled under her breath.

Once Suzy was satisfied with Jeremy's explanation, Ferb turned over the next poster board and Phineas gestured toward it. "Okay, so our next ceremony is from Jamaica. It's not nearly as long as the last one, I promise, although there's still some time involved."

"Nine nights, to be exact," Ferb said.

"That's right," Phineas confirmed. He held up a finger at the frown that appeared on Suzy's face at that. "Now, just give us a chance to explain. This one's actually pretty special, at least we think so. It's all meant to support the relatives of the deceased and to help the body make it safely to the next part of life." He waited for her nod of acceptance before continuing. "Now, it's held in a veranda or bamboo and coconut tent next to a house. Fried fish, cake, and bread sit on a table in the middle and left until midnight so the spirit of the dead can have a snack if it wants. There's lots of dancing and singing and rum, although we'd leave the rum for the adults." He gave Jeremy a grin and a wink at the last part. "The rest of us can have water and juice. It all ends nine nights after the death."

"Strictly speaking, there should be more singing forty nights later after the soul has stopped roaming and will no longer bother the living," Ferb added.

Phineas nodded. "That's right. And journey cakes are placed with the body, and a lot of times obedah or vodoo ceremonies will take place to help put souls to rest. It might be interesting to see what those are like."

Candace shook her head, having returned to her previous position once Phineas had begun describing the new ceremony. "And we'd have to do _all_ of that?" she asked.

"Well, if we want to do it right," Phineas said. "I suppose a few minor alterations here and there would be all right, but if you take out too much you take out all the meaning of the ceremony, and that's actually kind of insulting to the people that originated it."

"Phineas, we're not part of _any_ of these cultures," Candace argued.

"That doesn't matter. We still need to be respectful," Phineas insisted.

Jeremy placed a hand on Candace's arm as she would have continued the argument. "It's all right, Candace," he said soothingly. "We can do it this way. And Phineas is right; we should be as respectful as we can. It's the best way to honor and respect Clarence, too."

Suzy gave Candace a narrow-eyed glare. "Yeah, Candace. It's for Clarence. Be respectful." She smirked briefly when the older girl flopped back in the loveseat and let out a loud puff of air, then looked at Phineas with her usual innocent expression. "Do you have any other suggestions?" she asked sweetly. "That one was big enough for Clarence, but it's too long. School starts next week."

"Good point, Suzy," Phineas said. Ferb turned over the next poster board. "There's this one from Estonia that we thought might work. The people who follow the old ways there like to throw banquets in their graveyards and eat with the departed. They put treats on each tombstone to share. And then on certain days they believe the dead return for a visit, so they keep the bathrooms warm and lay out their food in a festive way. You know, like they're entertaining special guests. You could probably do the whole festive table settings whenever you really miss Clarence or you feel like he's still around, or maybe on his birthday or something like that. I think that part is a bit more flexible as long as you do it every now and again."

"That could be okay," Suzy said slowly, contemplating it.

"I don't think we can bury Clarence in any of the graveyards in Danville," Jeremy said with regret. "I think there are laws against that kind of thing."

Phineas looked at Ferb. "That's something we forgot, to look into local laws on that kind of thing." Ferb gave him a somewhat helpless shrug.

Suzy pouted. "But everything else is either really long or we have to dig up Clarence again!" she whined.

"I'm sorry, Suzy. Although we might be able to find somewhere close to a graveyard then go through with the rest of it." Jeremy smiled. "If this is what you want to do, we can do our best to make it happen."

"Um, I'm not trying to discourage anyone or anything, but you guys are basically talking about having a party in a graveyard," Candace said. "Are we sure everyone is going to be okay with that? I mean, the idea kind of creeps me out to be honest, and I can't be the only one."

Jeremy frowned slightly. "Well, I'd be okay with it, although it wouldn't be my first choice. But I get what you mean." He glanced toward the kitchen where his parents had promised to wait without interfering while they talked to Suzy. "Dad in particular really hates graveyards. He practically runs past if he ends up walking anywhere near one, and he refuses to park any closer than a block away. I'm not sure he could handle a banquet in one."

Suzy crossed her arms over her chest. "If Daddy won't be there, I won't."

Candace fought back a sigh and gave Phineas a pleading look. "Tell me you have something else."

"Of course we do, Candace," Phineas assured her. Ferb turned over the last of their poster boards. "And if this won't work we can look through our notes again. But I think everyone might like this one." He gestured toward the pictures and diagrams. "This is from Bali. They believe that fire is the vehicle to the next life."

"We can't do a fire in our backyard, Phineas," Jeremy warned him quickly.

"That's all right," Phineas said. He paused in thought for a moment then smiled. "How about the Danville National Park? We can pick one of the bigger sites that's farther away from the trees and build as big a fire as we need." Jeremy returned the smile and nodded. Phineas continued. "Okay, so the body, or Mayat, is bathed and laid out on a table where food offerings are laid beside it for the journey to the next life. Lanterns line the path to the person's hut to let other people know he or she has passed. It's also a reminder of their life so they're not forgotten."

Suzy bounced a bit in her seat. "We could do that on the walkway from the house to the sidewalk!" she enthused.

Phineas smiled at her. "That would work. The body is then interred in a mass grave with others from the same village until there are enough for a cremation."

That made Suzy freeze and scowl. "Yuck! I don't want Clarence to be buried with other pets! They'd all be gross!"

"Well, we could use stuffed animals instead of real ones," Phineas offered. "That would also mean we wouldn't have to wait for a bunch of other pets to die. Which would be really sad, actually." He frowned in discomfort at the idea. Ferb reached behind Suzy and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and received a grateful little smile in return.

"Okay, so where do we get that many stuffed animals cheap?" Candace asked. "It doesn't make any sense to spend too much if we're going to end up burning them."

"That I'm not completely sure of," Phineas admitted.

"Oh! I know exactly where you could get as many stuffed animals as you want dirt cheap!"

The five kids turned incredulous faces toward the open window where the new voice had come from. Irving grinned back at them and gave a little wave.

Phineas sighed quietly. "Well, apparently we can get the stuffed animals we'd need."

"But Clarence is _special_," Suzy protested. "I don't want him to be buried or burned up with other animals! He's enough all by himself!"

"Then I don't see why we'd have to do the mass grave," Candace said a touch desperately. "You said they wait until there are enough bodies. Suzy says Clarence is enough."

"That's fine with me," Phineas agreed. "And since we don't have to wait, we don't have to bury him. We can just move on to the next part of the ceremony."

Suzy smiled with satisfaction. "Good."

Jeremy pointed at the display Ferb still held. "So what's next?"

"Well, the bodies are unearthed and cleaned – obviously unnecessary in our case – then stacked on an elaborate float that's been lavishly decorated by the entire village and adorned with flowers," Phineas continued. "The float is then paraded through the village to the central square where it's burned, which marks the beginning of a massive feast to honor and remember the dead."

"There's no way we can burn an elaborately decorated float in the middle of Danville," Candace said.

"We don't have to," Phineas refuted.

Everyone but Phineas and Ferb looked confused. "But that's part of the ritual," Jeremy said.

Phineas nodded. "The people of Bali do that, yes. But I think we can modify it and still stay within the spirit of the ceremony."

Suzy tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. "I don't understand."

"I believe the ceremony takes place in the center of the village because of the number of bodies involved," Ferb explained before Phineas could. "There would likely be members of most of the families of the village among the deceased, and thus they would all rightfully be part of the whole process."

"We'll only be celebrating one life," Phineas added. "So we just need Clarence's family and friends – and Suzy's, too, of course – to provide the same atmosphere of honor and respect the original ceremony creates." He looked down at Suzy. "Will this ceremony work for you? Is it the right way to say goodbye to Clarence? Ferb and I are willing to find some more choices for you if it's not."

"Will it be a big fire?" the little girl asked.

Phineas grinned. "The biggest we can get away with without burning the forest down."

Suzy returned the happy expression. "Then I like it. No one else ever does it, and it's big, and everyone will see it, and everyone will come and eat and say nice things about Clarence." She hesitated for a second, her grin fading. "Where will we put his headstone, though?"

"We can put up a little plaque in the backyard," Jeremy answered for Phineas. "We'll put it in the back corner and plant some flowers around it. Then you can visit it any time you find yourself missing him."

"Okay," Suzy agreed, satisfied.

"It's getting a little late to do everything tonight," Phineas said as he pulled out his cell phone and Ferb put away all of their poster boards. "Isabella's waiting for me to call and let her know what's going on, so I'll ask if she and Baljeet and Buford can get a few things ready for tomorrow. Then the five of us can set up a small table in Clarence's cage, help Suzy wash him, and put some paper lanterns together to line the walkway overnight. Tomorrow Ferb and I will bring over a basic float we can all decorate, and we'll take it over to Danville National Park. Will that be all right, Suzy?"

She nodded. "That's fine." She jumped up off the couch. "I'm going to go tell Mom and Dad about everything!" She ran off toward the kitchen.

Ferb looked over at Jeremy while Phineas made his phone call to Isabella. "You do realize that commemorative markers aren't part of the Bali ceremony."

Jeremy shrugged. "That's no big deal. Dad told her originally that we'd put up a marker, and Suzy seemed to want one. It won't hurt to do it. We'll just put it up after everything's said and done tomorrow."

The green-haired boy nodded. "Fair enough."

Jeremy and Suzy's parents were soon dragged into the living room by an eager Suzy, and the seven of them began the elaborate preparations. Phineas filled in the details of the ceremony Suzy hadn't mentioned to the elder Johnsons once the little girl had headed outside to line the walkway with their paper lanterns and their battery-powered candles, and the couple expressed their sincere gratitude for what the boys were doing. They then offered to have the Flynn-Fletcher children over for supper, but they declined, Phineas explaining that there was still a lot to do at home to get ready for the next day.

Candace lingered behind with Jeremy for a moment when her brothers started to head out, and the teenage couple shared a long tender embrace followed by a short chaste kiss in deference to his parents being in the room. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said softly, touched as she always was by the demonstrations of his affection.

"You bet," Jeremy agreed. "Things are going to be interesting, that's for sure."

"Now you remember to tell your parents about tomorrow," Jeremy's mom said enthusiastically, coming over to give Candace a hearty hug of her own. "And feel free to invite some of your own friends, too. I know Phineas said that they'd be taking care of all the arrangements, but we're still going to bring along some Johnson family recipes. I wouldn't feel right if we didn't." She pulled back to arm's length. "We'll need help eating everything. And don't think I don't know it was your idea to talk to your brothers about it when Suzy was so upset." The blonde woman smiled fondly. "If you hadn't done that, we'd probably still be here wondering what to do to make our little girl feel better. So thank you, dear. It means a lot."

Candace blushed. "I really didn't do anything, Mrs. Johnson. Phineas and Ferb and their friends are doing all the work."

Mrs. Johnson gave her a wink. "But you organized the troops, let them know there was a problem to be solved. That's good enough for me." She hugged the girl before she could voice another protest. "Now you better get going before your brothers wonder what's taking you so long. We'll see everyone tomorrow."

Candace sighed once she was released. "We'll see you tomorrow." With one last smile at her boyfriend she left the Johnson home.

* * *

Candace, Jeremy, Stacy, Coltrane, and Jenny craned their necks to look up at the large elaborate float currently overflowing with flowers that Phineas and Ferb had finished putting together the next morning with the help of Suzy, her parents, Baljeet, Buford, Isabella, and the rest of the Fireside Girls while Candace and Jeremy had been driving around picking up their friends.

"Wow," Jeremy said, awed.

"When Phineas and Ferb say elaborate, they mean _elaborate_," Jenny said.

"It's definitely impressive, not that I'm surprised," Stacy said, nodding her approval.

Candace frowned. "And I can't even bust them for this," she grumbled. "Mom knows all about it."

Stacy looked at her. "She saw _this_ and was okay with it?"

"Not exactly," Candace admitted reluctantly. "It didn't get decorated until it got here – that was part of the whole ceremony – and it was a lot smaller. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet barely fit on it when Buford was pushing the whole contraption down the sidewalk." She paused. "Oh, yeah. Perry, too. Phineas was carrying him."

"So what happened between then and now?" Coltrane asked.

"Suzy decided it wasn't big enough," Phineas answered from behind the five teenagers, making them jump slightly in surprise, "so we modified the design."

Candace rolled her eyes. "Why does that just figure?"

Jeremy took in Phineas and his friends and gave them a grateful smile. "Thanks for that. Has Suzy been all right?"

The younger kids nodded. "She got a little teary-eyed a few times when we were getting Clarence situated on the float, but overall she's been good," Phineas told him.

"Are those giant guinea pigs carved into the canopy posts?" Coltrane asked, pointing at the closest one.

"Oh, yes," Baljeet confirmed. "You would be surprised at how skillful Buford can be with a chisel."

Buford elbowed the thinner boy in the ribs and sent him stumbling a few steps. "I thought I told you not to tell anybody," he growled a touch menacingly. Baljeet merely glared back at him as he rubbed the point of impact.

Jenny gave the husky boy a large smile. "I think it's absolutely beautiful. You've captured the true essence of this small wonder of nature. You should be proud."

"Don't let him fool you, he is," Isabella said as Buford fought back a slight blush at the praise. "He's just worried about his tough guy reputation."

"It's too close to school starting up again," Buford protested. "There might not be enough time to live down something so mushy before we're all trapped in the halls of junior high."

"I believe your reputation is safe," Ferb told him. "No one other than us knows what you did here."

Buford shrugged. "Yeah, but all it takes is one person overhearing things, and bam! It all goes down the tubes."

The others fought back smiles. "No worries, Buford. There's no one close enough to have overheard anything," Phineas assured him.

"Well, good then." Buford crossed his arms over his chest and took a suspicious look around. Satisfied that Phineas was right, he smirked smugly.

"So when is everything starting?" Stacy asked.

"I'd guess about a half hour from now," Isabella told her. "Mrs. Johnson is finishing up a few dishes she wants to bring to the banquet, and we're waiting for the rest of the adults to arrive."

Stacy nodded. "Yeah, my mom said she had one last thing to take care of before she headed over when I left," she said. "And she's bringing along the cookies Ginger forgot." She rolled her eyes. "They were on the end table next to the front door. I swear that girl would forget her head if it wasn't attached."

Isabella smiled at the familiar complaint about her fellow Fireside Girl. "Ginger'll be grateful. She was kind of beating herself up about forgetting those while we were arranging the flowers on the float."

"That's about right," Stacy said, her wry smile telling the others it was only a minor annoyance.

"Mom's taking some things to the antique store and should be here soon," Candace said. "Dad's going to meet everybody at the campsite."

Phineas nodded. "That's what I thought Mom said before we left."

Coltrane looked at Buford and Baljeet. "Are your parents coming?"

"My mother is already here," Baljeet answered. "She is helping Mrs. Johnson with the cooking."

"My mom went with Mister Johnson to get the site ready at the park," Buford said. "She had some extra wood she's been looking to get rid of, so this all worked out for her."

A woman's voice called out some instructions the kids couldn't quite make out but thought had something to do with transporting food, the distinct accent telling them Vivian Garcia-Shapiro was trying to take charge of the kitchen. Isabella gestured toward the source. "My mom was here before I was," she said. "She insisted on helping with the meal since she was sure there wouldn't be enough otherwise." The black-haired girl grinned. "You should see what she has packed away in her car."

Phineas grinned at her. "Whatever it is, I bet it'll be delicious." Isabella just returned the smile.

A large truck pulled up just then and Jack Johnson hopped out. "Oh, Jeremy, you're back!" the elder Johnson said to his son as he walked up to the group. "Mrs. Van Stomm and I have everything ready at the site, so maybe you could help me get the float hitched to the truck."

"Sure, Dad," Jeremy replied, then turned to his best friend. "Do you mind helping, Coltrane?" He gestured to the towering display in front of them. "This could get tricky."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Phineas told them as Coltrane nodded his agreement to help. "Ferb's already taking care of it." He pointed to where his brother was in the midst of hooking up the tow system they'd designed and built into the base of the float to the hitch on the back of the truck. Then his brow furrowed and he looked around. "Hey, where's Perry?"

"Oh, never mind him," Candace said with a roll of her eyes. "You know he'll be back by the end of the day. Let's just get this show on the road!"

Phineas smiled at her. "Okay, Candace. Why don't you guys go help pack up the food and we'll help here? The sooner we're ready, the sooner we can get moving."

Candace, Stacy, and Jenny moved off to do just that while the rest of them helped out with the float. They all looked forward to what was coming next.

* * *

The drive through Danville on the way to the national park was like an impromptu parade. All kinds of people came out to see the giant guinea-pig-themed float go by, lining the streets temporarily until the caravan had passed. Suzy and the rest of the kids waved, the little girl fighting back tears when the onlookers replied with farewells of their own to the "Goodbye, Clarence" banners Phineas and Ferb had attached to either side of the float.

There were concerns about the huge construction getting by the trees to either side of the road leading into and through Danville National Park as they approached the entrance gate, but they were quickly dispelled when Ferb pressed a button that activated a set of hinged wooden arms that extended from the top of the frame to gently push aside the overhanging limbs. It wasn't too much longer before the crowd reached the largest site available to rent in the park and joined another small group that had been waiting for them. The float was parked directly over the fire pit in the center of the wide clearing and released from the truck that had pulled it there. Mister Johnson parked the truck a ways away, then led his family back over to the memorial.

"So what's next?" Jack asked Phineas, who stood beside his brother and in front of his parents amidst the rest of the people that had gathered around.

"Well, Ferb and I didn't find a lot of specifics, just that the float would be burned and that would mark the beginning of the feast. But I think that it would be appropriate for Suzy to say a few words, let her share a few memories and get a chance to say goodbye before we start the fire." He looked at the now-sad little girl. "Would that be all right, Suzy?"

Suzy looked back at her mother who had taken a gentle hold of her shoulders then moved her gaze to her father and Jeremy. They all gave her supportive and encouraging smiles. She returned her gaze to Phineas. "That'll be good," she said quietly but firmly, then took a breath to gather her courage.

"I was so happy when Mom brought home Clarence for me," she began, looking up at the middle platform of the float. "Clarence let me pet him and knew his name, and he liked to run around my room when I'd let him out of his cage. I really liked his squeaks, and he was really cute when he was sleeping. And he was always the best listener. I'm going to miss him lots and lots." She took another deep breath and released it with a soft sigh. "Goodbye, Clarence. Phineas says you're going to have a new life now, so I hope it's just as much fun as this one was. I love you." Suzy's head dropped when she finished, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks and her lower lip quivering quite noticeably. Her mother gathered her into her arms and held on tight.

Jeremy glanced over at Phineas and Ferb as his father joined in on hugging his sister. "Go ahead and start the fire, guys," he said. He smiled at Candace when she took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Phineas shared a look with Ferb. "You heard the man, Ferb. Let's do it." He gestured at Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford.

The five of them surrounded the float and took out small flares they'd been keeping in their pockets. Once they were lit they were tossed onto each of the corners of the lower platform, Buford's hitting the center as planned. The specially-treated wood quickly caught ablaze, and flames licked their way along the carved posts to spread upward. Everyone there was entranced by the beautiful spectacle before them.

The big surprise came when the fire reached the flower garlands that had been woven together to make up the canopy on top of the memorial float. Hidden amongst the vines had been a special mixture Phineas and Ferb had put together, and when it hit the right temperature a column of flames shot straight up and down, finishing off the float below as it sent a massive pillar of fire up into the sky. The gasps and other sounds of surprise lasted longer than the display itself; Phineas and his friends all shared a satisfied smile and high-five at their success.

"What in the world was _that_ for?" Candace asked sharply, no one noticing a distant yell from above them as a charred machine of some kind fell out of the sky and disappeared past the edge of the trees. "You could have burned down the park!"

"Oh, no, we had everything worked out so we wouldn't do that," Phineas assured her, gesturing toward where Isabella and the rest of the Fireside Girls were earning their Forest Fire Prevention patches by putting out what was left of the float. "It was all precisely calibrated."

"But why did you do it?" Jeremy asked, having stayed with Candace when she approached her brothers.

Phineas shrugged. "Suzy wanted a big fire, and I promised her the biggest fire we could get away with. I couldn't break my promise, now could I?"

Suzy ran up to them at that point, cutting off Candace's sarcastic retort. "That was great!" she enthused with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "That was the biggest fire ever!"

Phineas laughed as Buford gave Candace a "ha-ha-we-win" elbow to the ribs. "Well, I told you we'd do that, didn't I?" the redheaded young man said to the little girl.

"You did, and it was wonderful! Do we get to start the feast now?" Suzy asked. She was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"That _is_ the next part of the ceremony," Ferb confirmed.

"Yay!" Suzy began to run back to her parents. "We can eat now!" she yelled as she went.

The others couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm.

There was another surprise waiting inside the enormous tent the Johnsons had rented to keep the food protected. Behind the head table where it had been arranged that Suzy and her family would be sitting was a medium-sized painting of Clarence with a border of interlacing and flowering vines. Suzy ran over to it with a look of awe on her face, followed by her family and the Flynn-Fletchers. "Where did this come from?" the girl asked as she looked around at the crowd that was continuing to gather for the feast.

Jenny, Stacy, and Coltrane joined them. "My dad made that for you to commemorate Clarence," Jenny said, having caught the question. "Django added the border." She smiled. "He's getting pretty good."

"Wow, Zeppo Brown painted you a picture," Coltrane said. "And it's a really good one."

"It certainly is," Lawrence agreed.

"So that's why you wanted that photo," Jeremy said to Jenny. She just gave him a not-so-innocent shrug.

"I see you've seen the painting Django and I made for you," Zeppo Brown said as he stepped up behind his daughter. He smiled kindly at Suzy. "I hope you like it."

Suzy nodded enthusiastically. "I love it! I'm going to hang it in a place of honor at home!"

Zeppo laughed. "That's perfect. And I'm sorry about your loss."

Suzy stilled and her happy expression faded somewhat. "Thank you," she replied quietly. "I'm going to miss him. But your picture will always help me remember him in a good way."

"That's all an artist can ask for." Zeppo reached out and patted Suzy's shoulder.

"Thank you so much," Mrs. Johnson said sincerely.

"It was the least I could do," the artist replied.

"I think we should get started," Linda said gently. "It looks like everyone is ready to eat." She gestured toward the other tables where most of the rest of the guests had seated themselves and were waiting for their hosts to begin the next stage of the ceremony.

It was a party to remember. There was a lot of laughter and a few tears. Everyone was nice enough to offer Suzy their condolences, some encouraging her to share good memories of her time with Clarence. Even considering the reason for the get-together, a wonderful time was had by all.

Jack and Sharon Johnson brought their kids over to where Phineas and Ferb sat with their friends as the gathering dispersed. "Thank you so much for putting this all together," Sharon said, wearing a grateful smile. "Our whole family really appreciates it."

"It was no problem at all, Mrs. Johnson," Phineas said with a smile of his own. "I hope it was everything you wanted, Suzy."

"It definitely was," Suzy said. "Thanks for everything." She stepped over to the redheaded boy and hugged him tightly. "It was the best goodbye for Clarence ever."

"You're welcome," Phineas replied as he returned the hug.

Jack waited for his daughter to give Ferb a tight embrace as well before speaking. "Do you need any help with anything? I've got the tent in the back of the truck I rented for this, but I'm sure there's more than enough room for more."

Phineas shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Mister Johnson, but we've got it covered. I'm just glad we had enough take-home containers. There was a lot of food."

Jeremy chuckled. "You guys think of everything."

"The take-home containers were Isabella's idea." Phineas gestured to the girl sitting to his left.

"I've been to enough family get-togethers. I know what happens when everyone's worried about there being enough food," Isabella said with a slight blush.

"Well, if you're sure you've got this, we're going to get going home," Sharon said. She looked at Jeremy. "Are you coming home now, or do you and your friends have something planned?"

Jeremy pointed at his car, where Candace, Stacy, Jenny, and Coltrane were standing around talking. "We were talking about taking a drive before dropping everyone off at home." He knelt down and hugged Suzy. "I won't be too long. I'm really proud of how well you handled today."

Suzy smiled at him. "I had to be brave, for Clarence."

"We'll see you when you get home, then," Sharon said. "Goodbye, everyone."

Farewells were shared all around, and the Johnsons drove off. Jeremy headed out with Candace and their friends soon after. Phineas and his friends then went to work cleaning up the last vestiges of the ceremony, not even needing the small cleaning robots they'd brought along just in case. With one last look back at where their latest Big Idea had taken place, the quintet relaxed into the seats of Linda's red station wagon, totally satisfied that the day had been a success.

* * *

A week later, Phineas and Ferb sat beneath the tree in their backyard considering the possibilities for the day, Perry dozing on the ground between them. None of their friends had arrived yet. But unlike a normal summer morning, Ferb was carefully watching his brother, who wore a less enthusiastic expression than usual. The green-haired boy nudged his partner in creativity.

Phineas blinked and turned to look at him. "What is it, Ferb?"

Ferb merely raised his eyebrows.

"I'm fine," the redhead replied to the unspoken expression of concern. "I just can't seem to think of anything this morning. Maybe we should just wait until the others get here and see if they have any ideas."

Ferb's brows came together as he frowned slightly.

"No, really, I'm fine."

Ferb sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why you're so sure something's wrong. It's not like we've done anything differently lately, not even this morning. We got up when we usually do, took care of cleaning up and getting dressed, had Mom's great pancakes for breakfast, then came out here. And it's not like this is the first time I've been at a loss for ideas, either. We'll come up with something, I know it."

Ferb's frown deepened.

"Well, okay, I guess it _is_ true that I haven't been _quite_ as upbeat about our projects lately," Phineas admitted. "I really did have fun doing them, though. It's just…" He sighed. "Tomorrow's the last day of summer vacation before school starts. I was really hoping to have been able to come up with something huge to celebrate it, something on a larger scale than we've done before. But everything I've been able to come up with we've either done before or trumped with one of our previous adventures. Go to the moon? We've done that more than once. Same thing with visiting another planet. Travel around the globe? Summer solstice. Find a mythical land? Atlantis. I mean, we've even helped Santa Claus with his Christmas run. I know there are still a whole lot of things we can do, but I'm not sure anything's big enough to commemorate the end of summer."

Ferb sighed again and shook his head.

"I'm overthinking this, aren't I?"

"Phineas, you're acting as though this is the end of the last summer ever. Just because school is starting doesn't mean it's the end of our projects. We have weekends, and in-service days, and snow days, and winter vacation, and Spring Break… We can even fit in some of our smaller ideas after school during the week if we don't have much homework. Tomorrow doesn't have to be the end of anything."

Phineas just stared at his brother for a long moment before a grin slowly formed across his features. "You know, you've got a point, Ferb. It's not the end of our projects. I mean, if nothing else there's always _next_ summer. Thanks for reminding me. However, tomorrow _is_ the end of _this_ summer, and we should do something to celebrate that."

Ferb shrugged. "Why not just have the biggest party of the season?"

"Ferb, that's perfect!" The spark was back in Phineas' eyes, shining as brightly as ever. "But I think we're going to need all of today to put it together. Let's see… we can have balloons, and cake, and even fireworks when the sun goes down as a grand finale. And we'll need music and food… Maybe we can put together some kind of video presentation to celebrate all of the projects we've done!" He gave a laugh at the satisfied look on Ferb's face then looked around, confusion taking the place of his smile. "Hey, where's Perry?"

Ferb could only look around and shrug.

* * *

Perry the Platypus had left just as Phineas had begun planning out the boys' party and now sat before the large monitor in his lair listening as Major Monogram gave him his daily briefing.

"We have reports of Doofenshmirtz stockpiling large quantities of gingko biloba, ginseng, and gotu kola, as well as omega-3, B vitamin, and antioxidant supplements," the major read from a printed sheet. He paused and lowered the hand that held the paper, his gaze sliding off to the right. "Hmm. I feel like there's a connection there that I'm missing." He thought for another moment then shook his head and looked up to meet Perry's inquisitive gaze. "Anyway, we can't be sure exactly what he's up to, but…"

"Sir, I told you what all those were for when I gave you the print out," Carl interrupted, his head suddenly poking into view on Monogram's left.

"I can't be expected to remember everything," Monogram complained. "Why didn't you just add it to the top of the page?"

Carl sighed. "I didn't have time to modify the document, sir. You wanted the list of things Doofenshmirtz had purchased as soon as possible."

Monogram frowned. "I did? I don't remember saying that."

"You did, sir. I promise."

"Hmm. I suppose it's possible." He returned his attention to Perry, just missing the eye roll the platypus gave at the exchange. "Anyway, the most important thing is that we're sure Doofenshmirtz is up to something evil. Go stop him, Agent P."

Perry gave his superior a sharp salute and activated his jetpack, taking off to deal with the latest scheme of his nemesis.

It wasn't long before Perry had soared over to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, landing lightly on the balcony. Deactivating the jetpack, the secret agent carefully made his way inside, having seen the evil scientist standing beside a large contraption of some kind emptying a bucket into an opening near the top of it. He tiptoed closer, then suddenly felt a small section of the floor give way beneath his foot. A moment later he found himself inside a platypus-sized glass aspirin bottle, complete with plastic cap.

Doctor Heinz Doofenshmirtz spun around at the commotion and grinned at the sight. "Ah, Perry the Platypus! I see you've discovered my aspirin bottle trap." He cackled. "And it won't do you any good to try to escape; I made sure there was a childproof cap!"

Perry took a deep breath and released it as he gave the man who had trapped him a steely-eyed glare.

"I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing," Doofenshmirtz continued. "I'll be honest; this isn't what I'd originally intended to build. I'd had the most wonderful idea a few days ago for an inator that would have made taking over the Tri-State Area so _easy_… but then I read that article about _Roger_ – you remember the inator I built to try to humiliate him a couple of days ago – and ever since I haven't been able to remember the first idea I had. It's so _frustrating_! And it's not like this is the first time I've forgotten a good idea. So after doing some research on things that could help improve and enhance my memory and buying up all the supplements I could find I decided to build _this_!"

Perry blinked as Doofenshmirtz made a grand gesture toward the machine he stood beside. It was a grey cylinder that was slightly wider at the top and covered in buttons and gauges. About two-thirds of the way up on the side that was aimed toward the open balcony doors was a nozzle-like appendage the secret agent presumed would fire some kind of ray. And he was sure he wasn't going to like what that ray did, if what he'd been told by both Monogram and Doofenshmirtz himself meant what he thought it did.

"Behold!" the scientist cried. "The Remember-inator! When I zap myself with its powerful beam, I will remember everything I've ever forgotten! And then I'll be able to create all of those wonderful inventions I'm sure I've missed out on for one reason or another. You just wait and see, Perry the Platypus!"

As the man turned to the machine and began to press a sequence of buttons, Perry found himself needing to remind himself to breathe. Doofenshmirtz wanted to remember everything he'd forgotten? Oh, that could go so wrong on so many levels. Who knew what new kind of scarring backstories he'd come up with that would require petty schemes and complicated inventions for the purpose of revenge? More importantly, would this new inator's effects cancel out the Amnesia-inator? If there was one inator Doof couldn't be allowed to remember, it was the Other-dimensionator. And Perry didn't want him remembering the events of that day or his alternate dimension self. He most certainly didn't want his nemesis remembering anything about Phineas, Ferb, or Candace.

This machine had to be destroyed as soon as possible, before it could be fired.

The thought of the inator firing made Perry pause. He glanced back in the direction it was aimed and considered where a stray shot could end up. He was fully aware that some of the disappearances of Phineas and Ferb's inventions could be attributed to accidental bursts firing from Doofenshmirtz's inators. He also remembered that the boys were planning on staying in the yard to plan out the party they wanted to throw the next day. Any stray shot, if the device was facing in the right direction, had a good chance of hitting them.

Perry had to remember to breathe all over again.

The sound of the inator charging up brought the platypus back to himself and the matter at hand. He narrowed his eyes as Doofenshmirtz chuckled evilly to himself and pressed a couple more buttons, then paused to check one of the gauges. There was no more time to lose.

"Only a few moments more, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz said in taunting anticipation. He pressed another button. "Only a few moments more until I will remember everyth…"

The man's sentence was cut off abruptly as the glass bottle tumbled to the ground with a loud clatter, amazingly enough not breaking on impact, and Perry tumbled out of the top. The secret agent rolled into a fighting stance, eyes narrowed and muscles tense.

"Perry the Platypus?!" Doofenshmirtz cried in disbelief. "How did you get past the childproof cap?"

Perry held up a small butane torch, flicking it on to create a powerful narrow blast of flame that almost reached the scientist's eyebrows before being turned off.

"Well," the man said slowly, blinking, "that explains that." He blinked a few times more then scowled. "But I won't let you stop me, Perry the Platypus! I _will_ remember!"

Perry tossed aside the butane torch and dove forward to impact Doofenshmirtz's midsection, driving the man back and away from the panel he'd been reaching for. The two opponents then traded blows for a time. Perry thankfully managed to maneuver the fight to keep Doofenshmirtz out of unusually long arm's reach of the device, but wasn't able to get himself close enough to hit the button he was almost sure was the self-destruct. He knew it was going to take a powerful blow to throw his nemesis back far enough to give him the time he needed to take out the machine without it firing.

Before he could wind up and deliver an appropriate haymaker, Doofenshmirtz surprised him by reaching out and grabbing a table leg from the piece of furniture he'd just broken by landing on it. With one swing Perry was the one flying through the air; he prepared himself to spring immediately back into action upon landing. What he wasn't expecting, however, was the crash into the Remember-inator. There was a crunch of metal and sparks and zaps from shorting-out circuitry as Perry fell to the floor, having apparently been closer to the machine than he'd thought.

"No, no, no!" Doofenshmirtz cried, horrified, as a whine grew louder and louder.

Perry looked up and over his shoulder, his eyes growing larger as he realized what was about to happen. That sound usually portended one last discharge before the latest inator exploded. It was the absolute last thing he wanted to happen, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. Not wanting to be caught in the explosion, Perry gritted his teeth and ran for the balcony. At the very least he could hurry home and make sure the boys weren't affected, or if they were that they kept quiet. They'd understand the need.

The beam shot out before Perry had gotten halfway to his destination, making the platypus cringe. "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz yelled after him as he activated his jetpack and launched himself into the Danville sky. A few seconds later the expected explosion rocked the building.

Perry wasn't sure he'd ever remember the trip home. But he made it there amazingly fast; once he'd landed he made himself take a second to compose himself and catch his breath. He didn't want to worry the boys whether or not the beam had struck them. Once he was sure he'd gathered himself, he put on his pet face and trotted into the backyard.

Phineas and Ferb and their friends were standing around a table near the large tree, papers and pencils strewn across the top. What concerned Perry, though, was the way they were staring at the sliding doors that led into the house. Were they remembering something?

"I sure hope Candace feels better," Phineas said, sympathy ringing in his tone.

"Yeah, it's rough when a headache comes on you so suddenly," Isabella said.

"At least it is not a migraine," Baljeet added with a shudder. "I have an uncle that experiences them from time to time, and he says they are awful."

Phineas looked back at the Indian boy. "That's too bad about your uncle, Baljeet. But Candace said she just needed to lie down for a while before dinner. I bet she didn't eat enough for lunch before hiking with Jeremy and the others. It happens to her every now and again."

Buford shook his head. "She should keep a couple candy bars in her pockets in case of emergencies," he said, pulling a handful out of one of his own pockets. "These babies have prevented quite a few meltdowns, let me tell you."

"Not those specific bars, right?" Baljeet asked, a look of tentative disgust on his face.

"Oh, hey, there you are, Perry!" Phineas greeted the teal platypus before the husky boy could answer. "I hope you're ready for a huge party tomorrow, because we've got the best summer celebration party all worked out!"

"I can't wait!" Isabella enthused while Ferb gave a thumbs up.

Perry chittered and relaxed. Apparently his fears had been unfounded and the beam had missed the backyard. There was no extra knowledge in the kids' gazes as they acknowledged his arrival. There was no sense of a new secret being hidden. There were no added expectations from him, no waiting for him to show the Agent P side of himself, even just a hint or two. Their memories of the day of the second dimension were still hidden away.

Part of Perry was disappointed; Phineas had been right that they'd make a great team, whether Monogram knew of it or not. Most of him, however, simply reveled in the fact that nothing had changed. This was still home, and Phineas and Ferb were still his boys.

Life was good.

* * *

Candace lay on her bed, staring at her ceiling with a blank gaze. Everything in her head was a jumble; the only positive was that it _was_ sorting itself out at a reasonable pace. And she hadn't been lying when she told Phineas and then her mother that she had a headache and needed to lie down. There was a dull, throbbing ache that had accompanied the swirl of thoughts and images racing around in her mind. She'd put it at a single aspirin level, nothing that time couldn't sort out on its own.

The pain wasn't what had her reeling, though. Memories she hadn't thought of in years were bubbling to the surface, some she thought she'd never recall. There were even some she didn't realize were there to recall. They ranged from happy little memories – she could remember being scooped into her mother's arms after taking her first steps and the warmth, pride, and love she'd felt in the embrace – all the way to the nightmarish – a shiver ran up and down her spine as she remembered the claustrophobic feeling of blackness closing in all around her when she realized she'd trapped herself in her small toy box during a game of hide and seek when she was six.

Was it that weird flash of light that was making her remember all of this? It wouldn't surprise her. And she didn't even think she could blame it on Phineas and Ferb; they'd been in the middle of making plans for the next day's party, no tools, materials, or machinery anywhere near them. She sighed to herself as she flung an arm over her eyes. Great. She was getting hit by strange beams of light from who knew where. The Mysterious Force must have been frustrated with the lack of invention from the boys and taken it out on her.

Wait a second. Mysterious force? Sure, she'd been talking about that for a while this summer, but now the concept was bringing a different kind of memory to the forefront of her mind.

_"It disappeared? Stacy, do you realize what this means?"_

_ "We're done?"_

_ "No! Some kind of mysterious force always takes away Phineas and Ferb's inventions before Mom shows up. This time, it took away their invention before_ I _showed up! The Mysterious Force recognizes that I am now a grown up!"_

_ "A mysterious force? I'm not buying it. I am a woman of science. At least that's what my horoscope said."_

_ "Well, I'm going to prove it to you_ and _bust my brothers at the same time. Where_ are _my brothers?"_

Candace let her arm fall from her face back to the bed and blinked at the flash of memory. That felt like the first time she'd ever talked about the Mysterious Force. Huh. She hadn't remembered that before.

_"Don't play with me young man. Where is the giant platypult they built?"_

_ "I dunno," Buford answered while stretching out and playing with the gum in his mouth. "Seems to have vanished."_

_ "Oh, really? Did you hear that, Stacy? The Mysterious Force took the platypult away before I, the adult, could see it."_

_ "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for all this."_

_ "The logical explanation _is _the Mysterious Force! The real question is why does it care so much about my little brothers?"_

Platypult? When had Phineas and Ferb built that? That's something Candace figured she would have remembered before now.

_"Oh, great and powerful Mysterious Force! I know you are just trying to protect my brothers, but_ I _am trying to protect them, too, from their dangerous inventions. Show yourself so that I may reason with you!"_

_ Nothing happened._

_ "Maybe we should build a shrine to it."_

_ Stacy had her arms crossed just below her chest as she watched Candace pause in her pacing back and forth. "Candace, that's ridicu…" Her rant cut off with a gasp as a vertical green-glowing circle blossomed to life in the air beside them._

_ "Ah! It's the Mysterious Force!" the two of them screamed in unison before dashing to hide behind the tree in Candace's backyard._

_ "What do we do now?" Stacy asked._

_ "I don't know. I can't believe it actually worked."_

_ After another moment to gather herself, Candace poked her head around the tree and took in the glowing visage. It seemed to have resolved so that the glowing green light they had first seen had settled into a shimmering border around a dark center. If she squinted she thought she could see figures moving in the inner shadows. Were there people inside? She tried to make out anything for certain as Stacy also poked her head out on the other side of the tree._

_ Candace frowned. That was enough of that. She hated being afraid. "You know what, Stacy?" she said, stepping out into the open. "I'm tired of the Mysterious Force pushing me around. I'm gonna show it who's boss." She started moving toward the outlined disc._

_ "Candace, wait!" Stacy cried in alarm, following her._

_ Candace ignored the warning and dashed forward the last few steps, leaping at the last moment with a mighty yell to dive into the center of the circle._

Whoa. There'd actually been a Mysterious Force? And she didn't remember until now? What was up?

_"I was wrong, Stacy. About everything. I'm not a grown up. I can't control mysterious forces. I can't even get my mom to see what my brothers are doing." Candace paused for a moment before an idea hit her. "Stacy, that's it! I can't get my mom to see what my brothers are doing!" She started to run off._

_ "Candace, where are you going?" Stacy called after her._

_ "I'm gonna bust my brothers to my mom! And I'm gonna fail!"_

Candace sat bolt upright as all of the scenes coalesced into a clear vision of the day that she and her brothers had crossed over into the other dimension. She remembered it all… and she wasn't supposed to. Perry had turned out to be a secret agent, and the only way he would be allowed to stay with the Flynn-Fletcher family now that they knew was if everyone got the memories erased by a device called the Amnesia-inator. And they had; nobody wanted to see Perry go.

What was Candace going to do now?

"Candace, honey?" her mother called from the bottom of the stairs. "Dinner's ready if you're up for it!"

"Yeah, Mom, I'll be right down!" Candace called back. She didn't know what she was going to say, exactly, but she figured it would be better to go down than have anyone worry too much.

The rest of her family was at the table when Candace arrived. She gave them all a small smile as she sat down, not able to keep herself from shooting a quick look over to where Perry was calmly eating from his food dish.

Phineas gave her a smile. "I'm guessing you didn't have enough for lunch before you went out hiking," he said sympathetically.

Linda gave her a concerned look. "Oh, Candace, you know how bad you end up feeling when you do too much exercise on not enough to eat. No wonder you had a headache."

"Well, I'm feeling better now," Candace said, not bothering to correct the assumption. It was easier than trying to come up with her own excuse.

"That's good, dear," Linda replied with a smile. "Just be careful how much you eat now. There's no reason to give yourself an upset stomach."

"Yes, Mom," Candace said quietly, forcing back a chuckle at the slight overprotectiveness.

The conversation continued like it usually did at suppertime. Lawrence talked about a new antique a customer had brought in for appraisal, Linda described the bocce ball tournament she'd been in along with Vivian Garcia-Shapiro and Sharon Johnson, and Phineas had talked about the plans he, Ferb, and their friends had been working on for the end-of-summer party they wanted to put on the next day. Phineas called it a "Summer Appreciation Party" and was completely enthusiastic about it. Even Ferb was excited; the family could see the sparkle in his eyes as his brother went on about some of the details. Candace had to admit, it sounded like fun.

Throughout the meal, Candace couldn't help but glance over at Perry, checking him over as discreetly as possible for signs of his hidden intelligence. A couple of checks in it occurred to Candace that he'd probably been out fighting against Doctor Doofenshmirtz; he'd already been gone when she'd come out to check on the boys before leaving to spend the day with Jeremy, Stacy, and Coltrane. Knicks, bruises and other injuries were added to her checklist. But as her mother served dessert, Candace caught herself. If she kept it up, everyone was going to notice. Considering her previous mask of indifference to the family pet, she figured it would be pretty hard to explain her sudden obsession with him. Besides, she hadn't noticed anything interesting anyway.

The teenage girl made her excuses when the meal was done and her father had gathered the dishes. She quickly escaped to her room. Flopping onto her bed with a loud sigh, Candace went over what she'd discovered over the last couple of hours. She finished sorting through the memories of the other dimension, putting them in order and making sure she wasn't going to forget again. It was too big a day to let go of; she'd gladly keep Perry's secret, and there were other things she'd learned that day that she thought were important.

Lesson one: it was okay to let loose and let herself be a kid for a while longer. She'd seen what could happen to her if she took on all of the responsibilities of adulthood and focused on them too intensely. The Candace from the other dimension had felt she had no choice, of course; she couldn't be blamed for the attitude, really. But for herself she could take time to enjoy the boyfriend, best friends, and slumber parties she had extolled as examples of fun to her counterpart, as well as plenty of things she hadn't mentioned.

Lesson two: she needed to have more confidence in herself. Aside from the demonstration of what she was capable of thanks to her other dimension self's single-handed takedown of all those robots as well as leading a city-wide resistance against an evil dictator, she'd held her own during the giant battle in her downtown Danville. Between her and Stacy, they'd taken out any number of robot invaders. And even after the tree house robots were out of commission, after she'd started to give in to despair, she'd thought of another way she could do her part and help save the world. Okay, maybe not the world, but at least Danville and the Tri-State Area. Even when she and the others had been captured then were being led to their doom she'd kept it together and not panicked. She was pretty darn competent, and she deserved to think of herself that way more often.

Lesson three: maybe she shouldn't worry so much about Phineas and Ferb's inventions. Sure, if she'd come up with them – or anything even close to them – her mother would have busted her so fast her head would spin, but in the end those same inventions were what saved the day. If Candace had busted them at some point and their mom had stopped them from inventing anything more, would things have turned out as well? She supposed an argument could be made that if they hadn't been inventing they wouldn't have gotten into the mess in the first place, but that wasn't the point she was going for here.

Then there was the tie-in with the first lesson. Letting loose and having fun didn't go well with hovering around looking for evidence then hunting down her mother so the woman could just miss seeing what the boys had done that day. She had plenty of examples of that already. How many dates had she interrupted? How many fun things had she skipped? How much stress had she put herself through? She probably couldn't promise herself she'd _never_ try to bust them again – there was only so much a big sister could take, after all, and some of the things they did really were dangerous – but she could back off somewhat. And hey, that would make a major dent in the New Year's resolution she'd made. She would definitely win some resolution brownie points.

It seemed she'd have to wait a while before testing her resolve on that last one, though. Both parents were fully aware of the next day's plans – even if they didn't realize the true expanse of them – and school started the day after that. Sure, the boys would most likely be up to their usual tricks here and there; weekends, snow days, and in-service days always called to their creative spirits. The next big test would be winter break, the two weeks around Christmas and New Year's. Candace smiled. She'd be looking forward to that. And oddly enough, she even found herself looking forward to whatever Phineas and Ferb decided to build next. This would be… fun.

With a small chuckle at herself, Candace got up and sat at the desk where her laptop rested. She'd noticed that after the big explosion of memories had settled some of the smaller, less significant ones – and in particular the older ones - were starting to fade away again. She wanted to capture as many as she could before they were gone, especially the good ones from when she was very young. She opened a word processing program and set to work.

* * *

The next day's party was everything Phineas had hoped it would be. Everyone he knew had shown up, all of them enjoying the lavish spread of food and drinks as well as the games and decorations. In particular the video presentation Irving had been kind enough to donate clips for was a huge hit. The redheaded boy chuckled to himself. It would have made a great clip show.

The number of people dwindled as the sun began to set. Even the die-hards, the same handful of people who tended to show up when there was even a hint of something going on in the backyard, were starting to go home. Jeremy and his band were playing on the stage Phineas and Ferb had built along the fence across from the gate that opened onto the driveway; Candace, Stacy, and Jenny were standing near the stage talking – well, shouting, really – and enjoying the music. Also with them were a couple of surprise guests, Vanessa and her boyfriend Monty. Phineas had noticed Ferb sigh sadly when Monty was introduced and remembered the potential for romance in Paris back on the solstice, but it wasn't long before the green-haired boy had put it all aside (or at least put on a good front) and went back to being his usual serene self.

Phineas' parents were standing together near the food table nibbling on what few things hadn't been packed up and put away, and he couldn't help but smile when they playfully made to feed each other and purposefully missed each other's mouths. They were a bit strange, yes, but they were happy, and that was all Phineas wanted for them. Vivian Garcia-Shapiro was also at the food table along with Baljeet's mother Aadi Tjinder, both of them laughing at the sight the Flynn-Fletchers made. Jack and Sharon Johnson had regretfully made their farewells an hour before, saying they needed to get Suzy ready for her earlier bedtime.

Irving, Django, Adyson, Gretchen, and Milly were sitting in a circle of lawn chairs talking and laughing. As Phineas watched, most of the other Fireside Girls came out of the house and joined them. They'd all been a great help that morning when everything needed to be set up. Phineas smiled. They always were.

"Hey, Dinner Bell, something wrong?"

Phineas turned around to see Buford leading Ferb, Baljeet, and Isabella toward him. His smile grew wider. "No, nothing wrong," he said as his closest friends reached him. "Just taking everything in before the start of the grand finale. Speaking of, is everything set?"

"Everything's ship-shape and ready to go," Isabella confirmed. "This is going to be fantastic."

"Was it difficult to get permission to put on a fireworks display so long after Independence Day?" Baljeet asked.

Phineas shook his head. "Not really. We had a few more forms to fill out, but that was about it."

Buford looked up at the sky and narrowed his eyes. "Think it's dark enough yet?"

The others looked at Ferb. "What do you think, bro?" Phineas asked.

Ferb glanced upward for a long moment, then gave them a thumbs up.

"Cool!" Phineas said with a grin. "Then let's get this thing started!" He went over to the stage just as the band finished up a song. Jeremy gave him a nod and a wide smile as he stepped away from his microphone. "Okay, everyone," Phineas said, getting everyone's attention. "It's just about dark enough, so get ready for our Summer Appreciation Party's grand finale!" The redhead jumped down off the stage to the sound of applause.

"Phineas, hold on a second," Linda said as she hurried over to him, Lawrence right behind her carrying a large cooler he pulled out from under the table. "When your father and I were out picking up the cake – I'm so sorry we missed your video presentation – I found something you all might like to help ring out the summer." She gestured toward her husband.

Lawrence took that as the cue it was, and opened the cooler with a flourish. "Sparkling apple cider!" he announced. "It's not quite champagne, but I think it's just right for this crowd."

Phineas, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford all grinned while Ferb gave two thumbs up. "That's perfect, Dad," Phineas enthused. "But do we have enough glasses for everyone?"

Linda reached into the cooler and pulled out a large box of plastic champagne flutes. "I thought of that."

"Buford, Baljeet, and I will hand these out while you and Ferb get the fireworks ready," Isabella told Phineas, already reaching for the glasses.

"Perfect. Thanks, Isabella." Phineas gave her another smile then left with Ferb for the garage where they had the controls set up for the light show. He completely missed the slight blush his praise caused.

It wasn't long before everyone had their flute of cider and Phineas and Ferb as well as Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford had taken over the stage. "Okay, everyone, get ready to raise your glasses and offer a toast to the summer," Phineas said, lifting his own drink. He looked at his brother, who held a remote. "Hit it, Ferb."

Ferb nodded and pressed the button on his remote. As the first streaks of gold shot into the air, the quintet of best friends looked at each other and clinked their glasses. "To summer," Phineas said quietly, his smile warm and sincere.

"To summer," the others replied, all of them with smiles of their own.

They then joined the rest of their guests in looking up at the magnificent display of colorful lights exploding in the sky above them, all of them filled with awe. It had been a wonderful summer indeed, and they all knew there were plenty of wonderful times to come in the future. They were looking forward to them, and to experiencing them together.


End file.
